Climate Science, Caveman Brain - Ep102: Prof. Chris Rapley

Professor Chris Rapley CBE is Professor of Climate Science at University College London’s Department of Earth Sciences. He served previously as Director of the British Antarctic Survey and of the Science Museum, and is a passionate and plain-speaking advocate for Climate Science.

Professor Rapley is a Fellow of UCL and of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, a member of the Academia Europaea, Chair of the European Science Foundation’s European Space Sciences Committee, Member of the Advisory Board of the UK government’s Clean Growth Fund, Patron of the Surrey Climate Commission, a member of the Science Advisory board of Scientists’ Warning, and a member of the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.

His previous posts include Directorships of the Science Museum and British Antarctic Survey, Chair of the London Climate Change Partnership, President of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and founder and Head of UCL's Earth Remote Sensing Group. He was Instrument Scientist on astrophysical and solar sounding rocket payloads, of the Bent Crystal Spectrometer on NASA’s Solar Maximum Mission, assisted JPL with the Cassini RADAR instrument, and led numerous ESA studies on the use of radar altimeters to study the Earth. He was Chair of the International Planning Group for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 and Chair of the ESA Director General’s High-Level Science Policy Advisory Committee.

In 2014 Prof Rapley and the playwright Duncan Macmillan wrote the acclaimed play ‘2071’ which Prof Rapley performed at the Royal Court theatre and in Hamburg and Brussels. More recently Prof Rapley was the Science Consultant on BBC1’s ‘Climate Change – The Facts’ presented by Sir David Attenborough, and the three-part BBC1/PBS series on Greta Thunberg.

In 2003 Prof Rapley was appointed CBE by Her Majesty the Queen. In 2008 he was awarded the Edinburgh Science Medal for having made 'a significant contribution to the understanding and wellbeing of humanity'. Prof Rapley holds a PhD. from UCL in X-ray astronomy, an M.Sc from the University of Manchester in Radio Astronomy, and an MA from Jesus College, Oxford in Physics.